Well the wrecking season for 2011 got off to an amazing start today aboard Grey Viking, with some of the best early season wreck fishing we’ve ever seen. Today was a speculative trip originally planned as an inshore Cod fishing trip but I decided to offer the crew a go out on the wrecks based on a good weather window and a hunch. Boy did that prove to be a good decision today. If only all days could be as good (I wish) !!
The distances involved to my chosen area meant we had 5 hours of steaming and 4 hours of fishing, with a 45 minute slack in the middle, so it was a small fishing window. But the crew of 8 (including 5 newcomers to wreck fishing) were up for it, so we went for it!
Well, we ended up with 27 Cod including a 30lb 3oz monster, a 25lb, 22lb, 19lb and loads in the 15lb to 18lb bracket. Alongside this we had a few smaller Cod plus 3 smallish Pollack giving a haul of 30 fish and a catch weight in excess of 450lb !
Seven of the eight anglers aboard recorded a personal best as follows:
- 30lb 4oz Cod – Warren Slatter
- 25lb Cod – Dan Dice
- 22lb Cod – Clive Marshall
- 19lb Cod – Gary Tidd
- 18lb Cod – Dan Batchelor
- 18lb Cod Ben Waddington
- 15lb Cod – Gazza Tidd
Here are some pictures from today:
30lb 4oz Cod for Warren Slatter
25lb Cod For Dan Dice
Was all action today
One of the few smaller ones
A couple from this drift
A mid double for Gary Tidd
3 of the Cod from this drift
Fish boxes filling nicely and its only Midday – been fishing for 2 hours!
22lb Cod and another personal best for experienced regular Clive Marshall (Clive bagged up today again)
Another for Dan Dice, who had a few today too!
Another PB at 19lb 1oz for Gary Tidd
Some of today’s catch and a very happy crew!
So phew, a fantastic day to start off the wreck fishing season for Grey Viking in 2011 with a fantastic crew – enjoyed your company guys !
Cheers Ray,
What a great descision. Superb day,all them P.Bs.
All Our arms & shoulders are suffering now, more of
the same in April !!
Gary,Gazza Jnr,Dan,Ben & Nick.
Great session there, lots of happy smiling faces.
Did these come on baits or lures Ray?
All on lures David, mostly small Sidewinders or Shads
Thanks Ray for a tremendous trip.
Three comments:
(i)Your ratio of travel time to fishing was slightly out since some of us had 5 or 6 hours travelling time on dry land as well as the steaming time.But was it worth it? – YESSSS!
(ii) Fish count was wrong.When I got home I found I had 7 rather tha 6 Cod!
(iii) In these days of political correctness some might think our take as excessive but catches like this are rare and our catch would have been insignificant compared with the activities of the multitude of French trawlers out there.
Well done for becoming a leading Brighton charter boat skipper so quickly
Thanks again for a magnifiicent trip
Clive
Hi Clive,
Sorry for the late reply, I’ve been away since the trip (passing my Yachtmaster Offshore ticket). Thanks for your kind words, it sure was a trip to remember and all I can say is I’ll always go the extra mile to try and find the fish. It doesn’t always pay off, but boy when it does we all have a day to remember!
Forgot to mention, one of my regulars Dan Dice was on this trip and he wrote an excellent catch report on WSF (World Sea Fishing Forums) – which you can read here:
Thanks Ray, the guys will all be chuffed to bits